Mouth and heart

New believers often carry a private worry: have I done it properly? Was there a form I missed, a feeling I should have had, a standard version of the prayer? This verse is the answer, and its simplicity has scandalised people for two thousand years. Mouth and heart. Confess and believe. Saved.

Confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus — say it, out loud, as your own: Jesus is Lord. Not explain Him, not defend Him at degree level. Say Him. And believe in thine heart that God raised Him from the dead — trust the event the whole faith stands on. The requirements are deliberately within reach of a child, a dying man, and you, because the heavy lifting was never assigned to your end.

Notice the certainty of the verb: thou shalt be saved. Not “may apply for consideration.” If you have done the mouth-and-heart of this verse — even quietly, even clumsily, even unsure whether it took — then the promise applies, and the paperwork is His. You did it properly. Now begin the long, good business of living it.